When did my hands get all sweaty? And when did my heart start pounding in my chest? Calm down Harry, what's going on with you? It's just Gemma's new boyfriend.
Yeah, Gemma's new boyfriend that just happens to be extremely fit for his age.
He was only a few inches shorter than me, seemed like a mature lad, but noticing that twinkle in his blue eyes told me he's actually quite childish, and full of life. Or it was the twinkle in the eyes of a prankster. Besides the perfect structure of his face, especially his jaw, he had a bit of stubble, showing that he was older and his hair wasn't totally messy nor perfect. It was definitely the attractive, good type of messy. And honestly, with the swoop of his fringe and every characteristic I could pick out, it's the definition of near perfection. He's the definition of perfection.
"Hi, I'm Louis." The brunette outstretched his hand, waiting patiently for me to react as he did so with a friendly, inviting grin. "You must be Harry?"
I suddenly felt my stomach do a small somersault and I forced myself to blinked to bring myself back to reality, as I slid my hand into his palm, shaking it gently while Louis had such a firm grip.
"Gemma has told me quite a lot about you." He continues grinning with that warm smile of his. Louis' eyes were so entrancing I tried not to stare too long for him to notice something off about me.
"R-really?" I stutter in reply. What the heck, I barely ever stutter my words... "Oh sorry." I abruptly pull my hand away to avoid any awkward vibes between us while my hand felt to be in his grasp for longer than intended.
I put my arm behind me and leaned calmly against the doorframe. I realized my palm still felt sweaty. Whenever I shake hands with anyone, that never ever happens. Why am I reacting so abnormally to this plain, simple, fit... I-I mean guy, just a simple guy, standing in front of me? It is just Gemma's boyfriend, remember that. I've met like two of them in my life. What's so different about this one?
Louis let out an amused chuckle. "No worries mate. And yes really. But only how irritating you can be."
"Well she irritates me too." I mumble under my breath.
"Oh I bet, but by the looks of it, you don't seem too troublesome. I'm quite troublesome myself." He smirked, probably reminiscing times where he caused mischief.
"That's what I'd want people to think." I awkwardly smile to lighten things up.
"Clever boy." He winked and I felt my heart stop all together for the second time.
"Thanks. I try my best to be." I glance downwards, slightly blushing, hopefully he didn't notice my cheeks turn red.
Just then I heard the bathroom door shut. And that must be my sister.
"Louis! Hey Harry, won't you let him in?"
His smile brightened even more as he shifted his attention away from me. I rolled my eyes at my sister's demand, and stepped aside to let Louis into our flat.
All of a sudden I felt a wave of jealousy stir inside of me as Louis and Gemma walked toward each other and kissed each other on the cheek.
My sister always has the ruin the moment doesn't she... What are you even saying?! Get a grip Harry!
I took notice of what he was wearing: a mahogany jumper with tan trousers. Very tight, tan trousers I must add.
Hold on, if I actually have a certain interest in Louis, especially someone I just met then I clearly must be going insane. This kind of thing never has happened to be before -- where I meet someone for the first time and I get all nervous and knotty in my stomach.
I sluggishly followed my sister and Louis in the kitchen and took my usual seat at the kitchen table. I took notice of Louis introducing himself to our mum, acted like a gentleman and threw in his humorous charm that I've already noticed about him, so Mum would have an immediate liking in him, which worked smoothly. Not that I was paying attention to his every move and anything, please.
Sitting in front of me, on the kitchen table was some lovely fettuccine alfredo, which happens to be my all time favorite meal for dinner. I grab the large spoon that was sitting next to the bowl full of pasta and helped myself with a hefty serving of some. As I finished, Louis was done greeting himself and casually took his seat in the chair in front of me. For some odd reason, my heart beat increased the second he sat down. Gemma followed and sat next to Louis.
"Mmm, Italian for dinner! My favorite!" I involuntarily smiled at Louis' comment and he started to help himself with 3 large spoonfuls of pasta.
"That's my fa-" I held eye contact with him for one second until my sister rudely interrupted me.
"I know it's your favorite! That's what I told my mum." She replied toward Louis and not me, grinning proudly and laid a hand on his shoulder. There it is again. That strange, random wave of jealousy.
After that, we all settled down and started eating, and I must say, fettuccine alferado never tasted better. If I could live off one food, it'd be this.
For the majority of the time, Louis would stir up a conversation toward all of us and we shared many laughs. He has such an outgoing personality, there would be no reason to dislike him. He's just so likeable. He told us about himself and cared to ask questions about ourselves.
"Harry." I froze and glanced upwards, finding his beautiful blue eyes looking back at me.
"Louis?" I reply, cheekily.
That brought a slight smirk on his face and I'm so glad Gemma was too busy eating and staring off into the distance to notice my cheeks on the verge of becoming red.
"What do you do? Like what do you do for a job, for fun, what?" His tone seemed to me like he was interested in what I had to say, which was really nice.
"I work in a bakery." I started off, attempting not to sound dumb or pathetic.
"The one not that far from here? The one downtown?" He sounded excited when he asked, straightening his posture.
"That's the only bakery around here, isn't it?" A smile worked its way on his lips, and so did one on my own lips.
"I go there sometimes. But why haven't I seen you there before?" Louis questioned with an eyebrow raised.
I simply shrugged. "I don't know but I work 1-4 in the afternoons on weekdays, so..."
Louis nodded in acknowledgment. "Ahh, well that's good to know. Maybe one day I'll stop by the same time you're there."
I calmly nodded back and bit my lip. I quickly took the second to last bite of my meal to cover that small action up. I might have looked calm on the outside, him implying that he'd like to see me made me feel, quite happy.
"What do you do in your spare time?" Louis posed another question, and my sister watched him carefully, and eyed me as well, like she wasn't very fond of her boyfriend being intrigued by me instead of her.
Suddenly I forget anything I've ever liked to do in my free time. I felt this pressure of trying to find an answer that would impress him or at least make me sound interesting.
"You sing Harry don't you? With Niall while he plays guitar?" Mum piped in mindlessly. Oh dear.
I felt my cheeks flush and avoided eye contact with anyone, pushing the last bits of pasta around my plate with my fork. I mumbled a small yes and glance at Louis and Gemma's reaction. Louis seemed impressed while Gemma enjoyed and took notice of this moment since Mum was slightly embarrassing me.
I post covers on YouTube with my close friend, Niall which I've known for a good 6 years now. He's very skilled in guitar and I have a somewhat decent voice as people compliment me on my singing, but I'm not too boastful on that subject. One day, we just sorta came together with Niall suggesting to cover a song and video record ourselves for fun. We ended up doing Valerie by Amy Winehouse, which got us 20,000 views. That's not too shabby for the first video of ours, if I do say so myself and now, we do covers when we have time but recently, our fans want us to do another, real soon.
"You sing? That's pretty cool. What songs do you sing?" Louis asked, clearly impressed.
"I'm kind of all over the place with genres but for a fact I love and sing songs by artists like Coldplay." I humbly reply.
Louis' eyed widened and sparkled with glee. "I love Coldplay! Wait what's your favorite song by them?!"
"Viva La Vida."
"Mine too!" I grinned like an idiot at that. We have the same food and music taste! He must have good taste in many other things, referring to what I fancy as well.
Mum smiled at the progress me and Louis were making and got up to wash her plate in the sink, turning on the faucet. I bet she was smiling also because I never really interacted with my sister's significant others, because I never bothered to get to know them. There's just something about Louis that makes me drawn to him and leaves me wanting to know more about him. But I don't know when I'd see him again.. Stop right there Harry. Why are you doing this to yourself?
Louis glanced up at the wall clock by the doorway and wiped his lips with his napkin.
"Well it was fun to have dinner and spend time with you all but I better run now. Thank you so much for having me." He got up from his chair, and placed his plate on the counter.
"No problem Louis. You're invited to come here again for dinner anytime you want." Mum replied to Louis with a friendly smile as she craned her head back toward him away from the sink, which he smiled and nodded back in return.
"It was nice to meet you, Harry. See you around. Or hopefully, at the bakery." Louis beamed as he turned toward me.
I let out a small chuckle, and grinned. "It was nice to meet you too. See you around." I waved at him and he waved back, still with that same genuinely happy smile on his face. Gemma stood up and followed him out the kitchen.
Wow, Gemma doesn't talk to Louis as much as me and him did tonight. I mean they did talk time to time, but it seems to me that me and him have a better connection already than he and Gemma do.
Me and my mum heard Louis and Gemma faintly chatting by the front door. Mum was leaning forward, trying to get a better glimpse of them.
"Mum, give them privacy." I whisper angrily, but jokingly.
She smiled and stood upright again, and began washing Louis' plate. "Louis seems like a great lad, fun to be around, very friendly."
"Mhm. I agree." I responded, but I couldn't emphasize enough on how I really do think so.
"And he's not too bad looking."
I couldn't agree more about that. His perfect blue eyes, the way his messy hair swooshes to the right, his body and how he's not entirely slim but the slight tummy of his isn't so bad... Wait, did I just think that? Even about his body?
"Gemma has a great guy going for her. Their relationship is going to be way better than her past boyfriends."
Once she said that, that's when my heart kind of sunk in my chest. It was that kind of sinking feeling where you know you could never have a certain someone - whether it's wrong or right. In my case, someone like him, or him at all.
I can't feel this way. I cannot. This kind of thing is forbidden, right? But hey, you can't control your feelings. And whatever I may feel toward him, is far from controllable... in other words, I just might fancy my own sister's boyfriend.
~